For the sake of our children and our reputation as a good place to live, adequate funding for our libraries is needed.

Above all other programs, the libraries must have ongoing funding.

The straw vote at the bottom of the ballot in Duval County is crucial, no matter what you do at the top of the ballot.

It’s our last hope for reliable funding for that institution.

No matter how many vouchers are issued, the bulk of Duval’s children rely on our public schools.

And our libraries are their essential partner.

Alberta Espie, Jacksonville

FERGUSON ISSUES

Family values are key

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

This famous quote from an anti-authoritarian film points out the end result of a clash between authority and an underclass hero.

The hero is killed as he mocks an authority figure.

Truth will out only if everyone agrees to accept it.

Those who wish to create chaos are doing so in Ferguson, Mo. They know the truth.

An underclass hero was killed, and they want justice.

They believe the grand jury is stacked and the police force is a corrupt paramilitary outfit.

The attorney general of the United States, a black man, just flew into town.

He has the president’s backing, who is also a black man.

They know those two will back them up.

Over the past 50 years, the role of the black father has almost ceased to exist.

With little to do, so few job opportunities and a need to find a source of funds, they sometimes turn to the dark side of society.

The prisons are full of black men who have gone afoul of the law.

The government must feed, house and take over the father’s role of nurturing them.

With so little to hope for in the future, why not loot the liquor store?

Have a good time tonight.

Then worry about tomorrow if it gets here — and if everyone is still alive.

John A. Beyerle, Jacksonville

STOP AND FRISK

A defense

I think New York City’s stop and frisk law has paid dividends in decreasing or eliminating certain type of crimes.

I feel the implementation of such a law would really benefit our city.

A learned judge has declared the stop and frisk law unconstitutional.

I can’t help but wonder whose constitutional rights are being protected.

Those of the murderer? Or the victim?

Don MacLeod, Neptune Beach

REPLY: COULTER COLUMN

Meanness is indefensible

Give Ann Coulter credit for one thing:

She recognized that she stirred up a firestorm of criticism with her column saying that the Ebola-stricken Kent Brantly and others on missions of mercy should not waste their time or money on Third World “cesspools.”

(Which have now morphed into “hellholes.”)

True to form, in her rejoinder Coulter came out swinging, implying that Christians lack brains, that her oh-so-cogent arguments were misinterpreted and that Brantly and fellow missionaries are grandstanding for the sake of self-glorification.

I looooooove racial profiling!
If a black guy is walking around a white neighborhood with no good excuse for his presence, frisk him!
If a Muslim looking guy is hanging around outside a synagogue and it's not a bus stop, frisk him!
If a white guy is slowly diving his Cadillac Esplanade in a black neighborhood saying repeatedly, "Hey Baby, baby, baby!",stop him , question him and go ahead and have a drug dog sniff his ride out!
If anybody is wearing way too many chains, hanging out at a street corner in a high drug, high crime area, frisk him.
If Al Sharpton is walking outside an FBI office, pretend to search him but bring him inside, THE SNITCH has plenty to tell.
If Jesse Jackson shows up at your place of business, get your lawyer Ready to defend a fake racism charge against you.
If Barack Obama arrives in your neighborhood and it is not a golf course community, find out where the fundraiser is and see if you can crash it for some free hors d' oeuvres.

Police are supposed to use something called common sense and know patterns of behavior.
We the public should realize when we don't fit or will generate suspicion and accept the idea that , "Well, yeah, it makes sense for the police go check me out, and I'm glad they did!"

It is very easy for an (assumed) white guy who lives in Atlantic Beach who won't be the subject of stop and frisk searches to promote them. Let's hear your tune when you are the one being stopped on the sidewalk by the police and patted down for absolutely no reason at all. If that's the kind of police state you are interested in, perhaps you can get a visa to go to China.